The New Elite Commandos

[mom-2greatkids]

Can I ask: What is the advantage of park hopping in this scenario? Are you able to ride more total rides by doing this than if you had stayed in the same park the whole day? I know lots of people love park hopping, and obviously feel it is a better choice than staying at the same park, but I don't understand what advantage it gives you? If it's to start at an EMH park, get an extra hour of rides, then get the heck out of dodge I totally get that. But if it's not for EMH... Can you help me understand why it's great?

There's a couple reasons why it's great:

1. You can choose to take advantage of morning or evening EMH but not have to deal with the extra crowds for the rest of the day.

2. By hitting the e-ticket rides at rope drop you can hop to your second park after a few hours and have a full set of FP waiting (but schedule them early so you can keep getting FP.

3. If your second park is really busy it's easy to hop to a less busy third park.

4. By going to 2 to 3 parks per day it's easy to ride your favorites over and over. Also, ride closures don't mess with your plans near as much.

 

[bluejasmine]

My family always called me a Disney commando and I was ok with it, we were in the park at opening and walking out at closing but later I remarried and my DH works a laborious job and needs relaxation built in daily as well.

DH told me in 2010 we can book the Poly if you promise to slow down and spend some time at the resort. I agreed but I will in my mind still planning like I always did, then, when the we actually checked into the Poly CL I fell in love with deluxe and CL and I did learn to slow down so then I had to learn to play with our Fp to make more of the time we are in the parks.

Now we rope drop have an early lunch, go back to the resort around 2 swim, relax, shower and we are back out at the parks for dinner and more fun. I noticed that it made everyones moods much better and I didn't need a vacation from my vacation at the end of the 7-10 days..
Now Im concerned about getting it all done again, I know we wont be doing WDW in 2019 bc I promised him we would go to Hawaii next year

I feel confident in my Epcot and HS strategy, somewhat confident in MK all tho Im torn, and not at all sure about AK strategy

MK we always did POTC first and then hit the mountains but now with 7Dwarf and it being kinda hard to get fp sometimes I may need to head straight to 7dwarf but it seems so wrong for 20 years we always headed straight to POTC lol

AK was a park we sometimes didn't even go to as we didn't enjoy it and when we did go we only spent half a day sometimes combining it with half a day of HS.

This time we want to spend more time in AK, so going our first evening we get to WDW and then again for half the day on another day, I would like to experience more of AK this time.

I actually joined touring plans this year and am going to work with their program..

I could use some help with AK tho, anyone feel free to PM me with your ideas and strategies...

 

[mickeyschickie]

I tel

Most WDW visitors read these boards? I don't think so.

l tell everyone I meet that’s planning a first time visit to come to this site....and I DONT think they listen to me,lol. Out of alll the masses that visit WDW every year, I think we are still outnumbered by those showing up with nothing but pixie dust and dumb luck on their side.

 

[mab2012]

I don't think there's anything that will help much at the very busiest times. I always laugh a little when I see posts that say something along the lines of "you can get any fastpass you want if you persistently refresh". I think that's true on " normal" crowd days, like a TP 7 or 8. But I've seen the parks on days when there's a 30+ minute wait for Peoplemover and Fastpass distribution is "concluded" by mid-afternoon. On those days, not much is going to help.

The rest of the time though, I think the "standard" strategies mentioned here and elsewhere are still good. I don't intend to be a "commando", but somehow we never seem to manage much downtime, especially on shorter trips. But we can usually get in most of what we want to do.

One thing I'm going to try on our next trip is booking tier 1 Fastpasses across parks. We have early Toy Story plus one other at HS. As soon as we tap into TS I will look for a late afternoon or early evening Soarin' or TT FP. It's still only three FP total, but I'd much rather have two for those bigger rides than a fourth for Little Nemo. Again, this strategy probably won't work at the busiest times, but I have my fingers crossed for our 8ish crowd day.

 

[lisa cameron]

I don't think there's anything that will help much at the very busiest times. I always laugh a little when I see posts that say something along the lines of "you can get any fastpass you want if you persistently refresh". I think that's true on " normal" crowd days, like a TP 7 or 8. But I've seen the parks on days when there's a 30+ minute wait for Peoplemover and Fastpass distribution is "concluded" by mid-afternoon. On those days, not much is going to help.

The rest of the time though, I think the "standard" strategies mentioned here and elsewhere are still good. I don't intend to be a "commando", but somehow we never seem to manage much downtime, especially on shorter trips. But we can usually get in most of what we want to do.

One thing I'm going to try on our next trip is booking tier 1 Fastpasses across parks. We have early Toy Story plus one other at HS. As soon as we tap into TS I will look for a late afternoon or early evening Soarin' or TT FP. It's still only three FP total, but I'd much rather have two for those bigger rides than a fourth for Little Nemo. Again, this strategy probably won't work at the busiest times, but I have my fingers crossed for our 8ish crowd day.

Agreed. We were there over Presidents Day weekend. I had luck getting additional and decent FP at MK (8 extra ones in 1 day) but no luck at Epcot. I tried all the modifying tips that worked at MK and AK. We were done with our 3rd fast pass at 1:05pm at Epcot and after 90 minutes of constantly freshing and motifying, nothing came up other than Pixar short Film, Figament, Living with the Land and Turtle Talk. We gave up and left Epcot at 2:30. I continued to look, no luck. We eventually park hopped at HS that night. Crowds were simply too packed to get whatever you want. Over our 4 days, we never saw SDTM or FOP come up. And we were done with FP by 12:30-1:15 every day. Again, I agree, doesn’t work very often if CL are 9/10.

 

[LSUmiss]

I don't think there's anything that will help much at the very busiest times. I always laugh a little when I see posts that say something along the lines of "you can get any fastpass you want if you persistently refresh". I think that's true on " normal" crowd days, like a TP 7 or 8. But I've seen the parks on days when there's a 30+ minute wait for Peoplemover and Fastpass distribution is "concluded" by mid-afternoon. On those days, not much is going to help.

The rest of the time though, I think the "standard" strategies mentioned here and elsewhere are still good. I don't intend to be a "commando", but somehow we never seem to manage much downtime, especially on shorter trips. But we can usually get in most of what we want to do.

One thing I'm going to try on our next trip is booking tier 1 Fastpasses across parks. We have early Toy Story plus one other at HS. As soon as we tap into TS I will look for a late afternoon or early evening Soarin' or TT FP. It's still only three FP total, but I'd much rather have two for those bigger rides than a fourth for Little Nemo. Again, this strategy probably won't work at the busiest times, but I have my fingers crossed for our 8ish crowd day.

I’ve said before that I think it depends on who the crowd is. I’ve gone New Year’s Eve weekend & refresh worked except nye day, but a lot of ppl we ran into seemed to be first timers and/or uninformed about fp plus & refreshing. But I’ve gone other times & there was less availability. Problem is there is no way to know who you’re there with.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Avoiding the busiest times is Commando Rule # 1...

 

[Greenfield1984]

I could use some help with AK tho, anyone feel free to PM me with your ideas and strategies...

My plan is of course to get fp for flight of passage.

Ill start my day rope drop at the safari and continue clockwise with the stampede of people exiting pandora at my heels.

Then do navi river journey at night near park close.

Avoiding the busiest times is Commando Rule # 1...

Is there a quiet time left tho? Or do you just mean avoid holidays?

Im going to see on my sept trip if there is one last hold out time for quiet season.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I’ve said before that I think it depends on who the crowd is. I’ve gone New Year’s Eve weekend & refresh worked except nye day, but a lot of ppl we ran into seemed to be first timers and/or uninformed about fp plus & refreshing. But I’ve gone other times & there was less availability. Problem is there is no way to know who you’re there with.

There are definitely factors at play beyond what we know about. I had good luck with Epcot FPs on Sat. Lots of availability for party of 5 on TT and Soarin in the late afternoon. Crowd level 5. That makes sense. I tried to run a little experiment yesterday between using the app and browser and it wasn’t even meaningful because so few good Ep FPs came up. I assumed Ep was slammed and switched to MK. MK seemed normal if a little harder to get than normal.

Epcot was a 3 yesterday. There should have been FPs available all over the place. Unless maybe Disney decided to start cutting capacity earlier than anticipated and started removing FPs from the system as they came up? Obviously they can close theaters in Soarin but can they lower TT capacity?

There just seem to be a lot of variables in how easy or hard it’s going to be to get FPs. Absolutely try for them and on most days you can get good FPs after the first 3 but some days you just can’t.

 

[dreiwhit]

Arriving early to be in in the park (MK) or at the tapstiles before RD is still a good strategy, but it's gotten more popular. During our last trip at the beginning of this month, we arrived at Epcot at 8:35am, and the line at the tapstiles was already pushing back against the buildings. I'd never seen that before at Epcot RD. By the time we got through the tapstiles, there was already a 40 minute wait for Soarin'

You can try to RD the headliner rides, but Touring Plans had a video on doing that for 7DMT, and a couple minutes difference can really make your wait much longer. You've got to be first out the gate to do that successfully.

We still use Touring Plans to come up with a plan, and it does seem to help. But, they can still be wrong. A 4 minute wait for Dumbo turned into a 25 minute wait.

Having your FPs and then checking the Disney app for available FPs does help.

I personally wish there were slow times. We did make one trip during a slow time, and it really made the parks more enjoyable. That trip has become our "gold standard" and subsequent trips haven't been able to top that one.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Is there a quiet time left tho? Or do you just mean avoid holidays?

Im going to see on my sept trip if there is one last hold out time for quiet season.

There may not be any real "quiet" time, but that doesn't mean we should throw ourselves into times when we know the parks will be at their busiest all year. Yes, avoiding holidays is a good start.

 

[ELLH]

With this thread (seemingly) being geared more toward the folks who frequently visit the parks, I'll provide a different perspective:

Being an AP-holder, going on multiple trips a year, me taking the 'relax' approach has helped my family a lot, as with each trip the crowds (regardless of the time of year we go) are continually growing. I know, I know. I can hear you saying it: "Oh, sure 'relax'... Yea, buddy, that's it." (rolling eyes commence) But, hear me out.

When I say "relax", I mean consider this: how many times have you ridden this ride you're gung-ho on riding? Fifty-five times? Do you need to ride it again in order to fulfill your quota of happiness or perceived ROI? Of course, a ride or two on your favorites is a certainty!... I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the point which you find yourself incessantly checking the app or otherwise pulling your attention from 'being in the moment' in order to achieve 'the next best thing'. I can say that mindset has made our trips less enjoyable than it could have been.

I'm an impatient person and a lightning-fast walker who can't stand being behind slow people and I personally always have to feel like I'm doing something. Not good qualities for someone who should take it easy, right? Case in point: I'm the kind of guy who will drive 10 minutes out of the way on backroads to avoid sitting in traffic; resulting in a loss in travel time just so I can be moving, as illogical as it is. So, it's incredibly easy for me to have this mindset of "I'm going to relax and enjoy our vacation" before I get there but once I get to the parks?... psssht, brother, you can kiss that 'relax' away because my mindset flips to "alright, THIS dude is CRAZY if he thinks he's going to pass ME!" and I'm zig-zagging through the shops on Main Street so I can beat everyone to Liberty Island in record time (picture Flight of the Navigator). And so we rush along... trying to edge out some random dude I don't know to save myself 0.05 seconds on an attraction I've experienced countless times. Never mind the fact when I get in to this 'mode' I will ignore hunger until the point where I'm flat out hangry and temporarily act like a brat. Yea, Daddy is a toooooootal PITA when he's hungry and those Snickers commercials are telling my life's story in that moment. Luckily my wife has let me live this long. But I digress...

Ok, so having said all that: getting 'caught up' in the rush of Disney is just part of it for me and when those instances occur I have to provide myself a reminder: "hey, dude, chill out... you've been here a gazillion times, you and your family have ridden everything at least 1,576,103 times... nothing has changed, so just pump your brakes and take it easy". Getting wrapped up in the rush and the inclination to ride every ride again and again is usually a detriment to my vacation.

I'm not telling anyone else how to vacation (effectively telling them how to spend their hard-earned money). And this isn't saying you should appreciate the 'small' moments in life because I can't stand when people assume I don't. I am saying if you're like me you may find yourself arriving home with more of the feeling that vacation just flew by and you don't really remember much. If so, join me in a wooosaaaaa and ask yourself if it's more important to do something for the umpteenth time just because or if you and your family would enjoy the trip more if you maybe bypassed that ride(s) and just strolled around the park and being in that moment rather than the one that you may not need.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Arriving early to be in in the park (MK) or at the tapstiles before RD is still a good strategy, but it's gotten more popular. During our last trip at the beginning of this month, we arrived at Epcot at 8:35am, and the line at the tapstiles was already pushing back against the buildings. I'd never seen that before at Epcot RD. By the time we got through the tapstiles, there was already a 40 minute wait for Soarin'

You can try to RD the headliner rides, but Touring Plans had a video on doing that for 7DMT, and a couple minutes difference can really make your wait much longer. You've got to be first out the gate to do that successfully.

We still use Touring Plans to come up with a plan, and it does seem to help. But, they can still be wrong. A 4 minute wait for Dumbo turned into a 25 minute wait.

Having your FPs and then checking the Disney app for available FPs does help.

I personally wish there were slow times. We did make one trip during a slow time, and it really made the parks more enjoyable. That trip has become our "gold standard" and subsequent trips haven't been able to top that one.

I think you have to use RD in combination with a contrarian strategy, i.e., go to lands where most of the herd will not be going to. At MK, that means avoid Fantasyland and (to a lesser extent) Tomorrowland first thing in the morning. It's not usually difficult to get fast passes in advance for 7DMT, PP and Space Mt.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

With this thread (seemingly) being geared more toward the folks who frequently visit the parks, I'll provide a different perspective:

Being an AP-holder, going on multiple trips a year, me taking the 'relax' approach has helped my family a lot, as with each trip the crowds (regardless of the time of year we go) are continually growing. I know, I know. I can hear you saying it: "Oh, sure 'relax'... Yea, buddy, that's it." (rolling eyes commence) But, hear me out.

When I say "relax", I mean consider this: how many times have you ridden this ride you're gung-ho on riding? Fifty-five times? Do you need to ride it again in order to fulfill your quota of happiness or perceived ROI? Of course, a ride or two on your favorites is a certainty!... I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the point which you find yourself incessantly checking the app or otherwise pulling your attention from 'being in the moment' in order to achieve 'the next best thing'. I can say that mindset has made our trips more stressful (to varying degrees) than it really needs to be.

I'm an impatient person and a lightning-fast walker who can't stand being behind slow people and I personally always have to feel like I'm doing something. Not good qualities for someone who should take it easy, right? Case in point: I'm the kind of guy who will drive 10 minutes out of the way on backroads to avoid sitting in traffic; resulting in a loss in travel time just so I can be moving, as illogical as it is. So, it's incredibly easy for me to have this mindset of "I'm going to relax and enjoy our vacation" before I get there but once I get to the parks?... psssht, brother, you can kiss that 'relax' away because my mindset flips to "alright, THIS dude is CRAZY if he thinks he's going to pass ME!" and I'm zig-zagging through the shops on Main Street so I can beat everyone to Liberty Island in record time (picture Flight of the Navigator). And so we rush along... trying to edge out some random dude I don't know to save myself 0.05 seconds on an attraction I've experienced countless times. Never mind the fact when I get in to this 'mode' I will ignore hunger until the point where I'm flat out hangry and temporarily act like a brat. Yea, Daddy is a toooooootal PITA when he's hungry and those Snickers commercials are telling my life's story in that moment. Luckily my wife has let me live this long. But I digress...

Ok, so having said all that: getting 'caught up' in the rush of Disney is just part of it for me and when those instances occur I have to provide myself a reminder: "hey, dude, chill out... you've been here a gazillion times, you and your family have ridden everything at least 1,576,103 times... nothing has changed, so just pump your brakes and take it easy". Getting wrapped up in the rush and the inclination to ride every ride again is usually a detriment to my vacation.

I'm not telling anyone else how to vacation (effectively telling them how to spend their hard-earned money). I am saying if you're like me you may find yourself arriving home with more of the feeling that vacation just flew by and you don't really remember much. If so, join me in a wooosaaaaa and ask yourself if it's more important to do something for the umpteenth time just because or if you and your family would enjoy the trip more if you maybe bypassed that ride(s) and just strolled around the park and being in that moment rather than the one that you may not need.

I love both this post and the OP- both completely appeal to me. While we have been fortunate to be there the last few years, my original trip planning was nothing short of a frenzy. Last trip in Nov I was getting grouchy at lack of adr and FP availability. However once I was there, I definitely relaxed a bit and had the realization of this post. That is definitely more my DH- a live in the moment kind of guy who resents the need for Uber planning. I think if you are not doing a once in a lifetime trip and plan to be back, it’s a little easier to take the foot off the gas pedal. We are starting to think about our next trip and I hope I can keep that zen feeling. A few key FPs, sure, but even my 6 yo asked me to stop refreshing my phone for FPs!

 

[Greenfield1984]

With this thread (seemingly) being geared more toward the folks who frequently visit the parks, I'll provide a different perspective:

Being an AP-holder, going on multiple trips a year, me taking the 'relax' approach has helped my family a lot, as with each trip the crowds (regardless of the time of year we go) are continually growing. I know, I know. I can hear you saying it: "Oh, sure 'relax'... Yea, buddy, that's it." (rolling eyes commence) But, hear me out.

When I say "relax", I mean consider this: how many times have you ridden this ride you're gung-ho on riding? Fifty-five times? Do you need to ride it again in order to fulfill your quota of happiness or perceived ROI? Of course, a ride or two on your favorites is a certainty!... I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the point which you find yourself incessantly checking the app or otherwise pulling your attention from 'being in the moment' in order to achieve 'the next best thing'. I can say that mindset has made our trips more stressful (to varying degrees) than it really needs to be.

I'm an impatient person and a lightning-fast walker who can't stand being behind slow people and I personally always have to feel like I'm doing something. Not good qualities for someone who should take it easy, right? Case in point: I'm the kind of guy who will drive 10 minutes out of the way on backroads to avoid sitting in traffic; resulting in a loss in travel time just so I can be moving, as illogical as it is. So, it's incredibly easy for me to have this mindset of "I'm going to relax and enjoy our vacation" before I get there but once I get to the parks?... psssht, brother, you can kiss that 'relax' away because my mindset flips to "alright, THIS dude is CRAZY if he thinks he's going to pass ME!" and I'm zig-zagging through the shops on Main Street so I can beat everyone to Liberty Island in record time (picture Flight of the Navigator). And so we rush along... trying to edge out some random dude I don't know to save myself 0.05 seconds on an attraction I've experienced countless times. Never mind the fact when I get in to this 'mode' I will ignore hunger until the point where I'm flat out hangry and temporarily act like a brat. Yea, Daddy is a toooooootal PITA when he's hungry and those Snickers commercials are telling my life's story in that moment. Luckily my wife has let me live this long. But I digress...

Ok, so having said all that: getting 'caught up' in the rush of Disney is just part of it for me and when those instances occur I have to provide myself a reminder: "hey, dude, chill out... you've been here a gazillion times, you and your family have ridden everything at least 1,576,103 times... nothing has changed, so just pump your brakes and take it easy". Getting wrapped up in the rush and the inclination to ride every ride again is usually a detriment to my vacation.

I'm not telling anyone else how to vacation (effectively telling them how to spend their hard-earned money). I am saying if you're like me you may find yourself arriving home with more of the feeling that vacation just flew by and you don't really remember much. If so, join me in a wooosaaaaa and ask yourself if it's more important to do something for the umpteenth time just because or if you and your family would enjoy the trip more if you maybe bypassed that ride(s) and just strolled around the park and being in that moment rather than the one that you may not need.

This is actually great advice. Just doesnt apply to me. .

At least right now.

I personally dont get stressed out and truley enjoy all the husslin and busslin.

Im also patient and flexible so if plans arnt working out i can improvise or abandon them altogether.

I do intend on hitting nearly every attraction this trip. Not for me though. For my in laws and children who havnt already ridden them a bunch of times.

Later on my touring style will change undoubtable. Just strolling around people watching is something im looking for. Just not yet.

For now im still an enlisted commando.

When i retire ill smell the roses

 

[Greenfield1984]

This is actually great advice. Just doesnt apply to me. .

At least right now.

I personally dont get stressed out and truley enjoy all the husslin and busslin.

Im also patient and flexible so if plans arnt working out i can improvise or abandon them altogether.

I do intend on hitting nearly every attraction this trip. Not for me though. For my in laws and children who havnt already ridden them a bunch of times.

Later on my touring style will change uncountable. Just strolling around people watching is something im looking for. Just not yet.

For now im still an enlisted commando.

When i retire ill smell the roses

Actually that all being said.

I do have rose smelling as part of my touring strategy.

Im very excited to play hide and seek in the hedge maze in the UK pavillion with my kids.

 

[hiroMYhero]

My plan is of course to get fp for flight of passage.

I also haven’t seen any mention of morning or evening EMH so I’m thinking you don’t have an onsite stay booked? Or, not a complete onsite stay...perhaps it’s only your Throwaway Room at FW?

The Disney Springs Hotels are offering EMH and the 60-day FP booking window for complete length of stay when your booking window opens if you missed that announcement. It’s helping offsite guests accomplish being more “commando” than an offsite guest who doesn’t have EMH and the complete length of stay 60-day FP booking window.

 

[Greenfield1984]

I also haven’t seen any mention of morning or evening EMH so I’m thinking you don’t have an onsite stay booked? Or, not a complete onsite stay...perhaps it’s only your Throwaway Room at FW?

The Disney Springs Hotels are offering EMH and the 60-day FP booking window for complete length of stay when your booking window opens if you missed that announcement. It’s helping offsite guests accomplish being more “commando” than an offsite guest who doesn’t have EMH and the complete length of stay 60-day FP booking window.

Good deducing

Although even with an onsite stay i always stayed clear of emh.

 

[TinkerPan]

One helpful tip for a Commando is to travel with a like-minded Commando that can lend assistance. What do I mean? Having two refreshing for FPs. Having one person on the mobile ordering screen while another has the menu open. Having one go thru bag check while the other rents a stroller. You get the idea.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Good deducing

Although even with an onsite stay i always stayed clear of emh.

I also have another deduction but I can’t post it.

Just concerned about FoP because it was proven the Throwaway Room was not beneficial in booking FoP 60-days out. At least the “rolling 60” gives you a longer window in which to try to Modify and Search.